Quadruple the fun for Bridgepoint

UK mid-market firm Bridgepoint has sold Attendo, a Nordic provider of older and disabled care for local authorities, to Industri Kapital, generating a 4.4x return.

Headquartered in Danderyd, Sweden, the company has been in business since 1988. As well as operating in its home nation, Attendo also has a presence in Denmark and Norway. It currently generates €315m in sales.

Henrik Borelius, CEO of the business, said: “Attendo today is a focused care service provider with a very strong position in Sweden. Our strategy going forward includes both organic growth and acquisition led growth to expand our foothold in the rest of Scandinavia. Longer term, our aim is to build a pan-European care group.”

Bridgepoint first became involved in February 2005 when Attendo was planning an IPO. The plan was scrapped and Bridgepoint acquired a majority stake in a deal that valued the business at €245m.

Graham Oldroyd, partner responsible for Bridgepoint’s operations in the Nordic region, said: “Attendo is now a focussed care service provider with a strengthened market leading position in its home market. Under Bridgepoint ownership, Attendo disposed of its telecare arm to re-focus the business on its core offering and then went on to make five acquisitions.”

Gustav Öhman, partner at Industri Kapital, said “We have chosen to invest in Attendo because we see the opportunity of combining strong organic growth and a buy-and-build strategy. Very few companies are capable of both but Attendo has shown over the last five years that they can.”